Ele - The Discerning: Chapter 8 (Chapter 1 of part 2)
by Penelope of Ithaca Jaded
Summary: Still battling questions from Florida, Ele accepts Dean's invitation to meet Bobby Singer.


PART TWO:

THE DISCERNING

Chapter Eight

Aliante Casino

_Leaving Vegas, leaving the kids - leaving._ Why did that seem like the only right thing to do? Still, as monumentally wrong as it felt in my brain, something in my heart said _LEAVE_.

I looked at the text one more time:

BOBBY WANTS TO MEET YOU

That's all that was written, but so much else was conveyed in those five words.

TEXT ME THE ADDRESS

OF COURSE PRETTY LADY

Just like that I left, heading out on I-15 N for Singer Salvage Yard, somewhere close to Sioux Falls, trying to decide between going through Wyoming or Colorado.

Okay, maybe not "just like that." I had indeed already took a leave of absence from school and arranged a subletter for my apartment. I already knew I needed to go somewhere.

The situation with my kids had only steadily spiraled after spring break. My calls to my daughter's phone were rejected, and since Deven was now missing in action - no doubt due to Junior's (bio dad) verbal abuse, they were rarely able to even contact me. It all came to a head at Pete's kindergarten graduation. Nothing was going to keep me from that - nothing, and it's not hard to get basic information from a school's website.

I attended without Deven. I only wanted to see my boy; he spotted me in the crowd, so of course he ran up to us afterwards. Well, I guess that really pissed Junior off, so he made a scene. I won't repeat what he said just because it was too painful for the kids and too enraging to me. Somehow I held it together despite the tears, kissed the kids, and walked out without a word. As I passed Junior's stupid minivan, I mumbled under my breath that I wished all his tires would go flat.

Something had snapped in me that day. I drove away from STarr Elementary in silence. _That goddamn motherfuckin' punk ass bastard son of a bitch! _I was too angry to get creative. Don't get me wrong, Junior was a great dad; he loved and protected his kids, but he was the kind of person for which Shakespeare made up very specific nasty phrases. He'd shot himself in the foot before with Mia, badmouthing me in front of her and behind my back, and he'd done it again. I would never fall into his trap; I would never speak ill of the daddy they loved. They would come to see him as a "sanctimonious pirate" with "no more brain than stone" soon enough.

The next day is when I put in for the leave and took out an add for the apartment - open ended. At first I thought I would go look up Mary. Maybe she had some answers, but then yesterday there was a text from Dean who had kept in touch about once a month since we parted ways in Florida. We were still puzzled at Duby's unorthodox disappearance because ghosts don't ever do what they are told. And I couldn't help but wonder if he literally went to hell?

And there was something else.

I had called Deven at least three times since she'd pulled **her** latest vanishing act, and she only called me back the day after graduation but not about the kids:

"Why would you pop all of Junior's tires? Ele, really? Are you insane?"

For a moment I was speechless. "What?"

"You popped his tires, Ele. He said they were all four flat when he left the school yesterday. What the fuck?"

_And where the fuck where you? _"Dev, I didn't pop any tires? Did you even listen to my message? I don't care about his tires...I CARE about my children!"

"Then stop getting boudy boudy. Not helping the situation!"

_You're not helping the situation! _ "I wouldn't do that! How would I even do that? I mean, not like I haven't though…..," I trailed off. _OH MY GOD! I mumbled it. Surely not! No, no way. _

"I don't know, but he's furious. You got lucky though, after his message, I talked to his mom - she blabbed enough to know he's really mad because the cops thought he was nuts because there wasn't a single thing wrong with any of the tires - they were just flat. She said they don't know what happened."

I was still thinking **I** was nuts.

"Ele…...ELE!"

"Because I didn't do it!""Yeah, I know, you're not strong enough, just messing with ya. Karma's a bitch."


End file.
